LOS ANGELES, March 24 (UPI) -- Predator fans can expect Shane Black's reboot, The Predator, to be a big-budget blockbuster.
The 54-year-old director, who played Hawkins in the original 1987 movie, discussed his plans for the forthcoming film in an interview with Thrillist.
"[Fox] called me and I was reluctant," Black recalled. "They said, 'What if we said to you we want to reinvent this, and really treat it with as much of an event status, or as much hoopla as we would the Alien prequel, which is also coming out?'"
"[They said,] 'We really want to make this something. The kind of movie that people line up for,'" he related. "I said, 'Really, you'll spend a bunch of money?' They go, 'Yep.' I go, 'Make it really scale, spectacle?' 'Yep.' '[Expletive,] that sounds interesting.'"
Black is known for writing Lethal Weapon and Last Action Hero, and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3 earned over $1.2 billion at the box office, and Black envisions a similar scale for the Predator reboot.
"I think the first [Predator] was great, and it was contained, and it was a perfect little gem for what it was," he said. "I think there's an expansion that needs to take place, and also just a love for that era, that movie, and the mythology of Predator."
"I think that they came to me knowing pretty much that... they said, basically, if I wanted to make Predator but treat it like it was Iron Man III instead of just another little movie," he explained. "I said, 'Let's really do it right this time.'"
News of the reboot broke in 2014 and 20th Century Fox released a first teaser image for the movie in February. Producer John Davis previously told Collider the film seeks to reinvent the franchise in "a different, interesting way."
